Here’s the finished product of the women inmate’s work. As the photo caption says “Out from the shop to its place in the home.” Shined up to within an inch of its life I might add. The desk on the left is interesting. Looks like it began its life as a pianoforte (the folding lid is still evident in the photo). Given the mighty swelling of legs it appears to date to the mid-nineteenth century (Bronson, Folger ownership possibly?)

It sounds like the title of a bad movie. And clearly it was not as fun for all involved as the cheery text in the 1928 New York State Training School Annual Report makes it sound. But check out this image:

I like the photo caption “More conservation brings an appreciation of beauty and a profession.” And I love this photo. Tell me what you think. Thanks to Cherie Miller Schwartz for finding this one in the archives. To find out what’s really going on in the photo read on.

This site chronicles the history and ongoing restoration of the Dr. Oliver Bronson House & Estate in Hudson, NY; a National Historic Landmark. First built as a Federal style residence for Samuel Plumb in 1812, the house and grounds were reinvented by architect Alexander Jackson Davis into a fully realized early Picturesque landscape for Dr. Bronson and his family in two successive remodeling campaigns dating to 1839 and 1849. Continue reading “Welcome to the Day Book!”